I certainly understand what you are saying and not against leaving most alone. However analogWrite() was a brain fart name and should be renamed pwmWrite(), change in now. 
I think most innovations can/should be brought on board in the form of user library additions or new example sketches rather then making them part of the 'core'. That way if you don't use it or need it, you don't have to learn about it. A good general purpose sleep library might be one example, or a general purpose watchdog timer library.
Making too many fundamental IDE or core library changes/additions probably would make the learning curve longer for new comers and not in the spirit of the original idea. Except for that damn analogWrite() name.
Lefty